Kyle's Career Filmstrip: TV Series and Movies

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Nov 17, 2015

The
cast of “Carol,” along with director Todd Haynes and screenwriter
Phyllis Nagy, gather in New York for a press conference | Getty Images
Photo

Director Todd Haynes, screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, and cast members of “Carol”
gathered for a press conference in New York on Nov. 16, 2015. Cate
Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler, Sarah Paulson, and Jake Lacy
talked about their roles in the film, which is about a same-sex romance
in the 1950’s.
Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel, “The Price of Salt,” the movie
is an unusual portrait of women in love with each other at a time when
no one talked about such things. Read my review of the film from the New York Film Festival last month. “Carol” opens in theaters this weekend.

Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos at the press
conference, but we were given permission to use Getty Images of the
event. Cate wore a jumpsuit with high-waisted black pants and a white
top. Rooney has a small, delicate face that reminds me of Audrey Hepburn.
Sarah wore her hair a la her character in “American Horror Story.” Kyle
and Jake looked very handsome, as did director Todd Haynes (who
directed one of my favorite films of all time, “Velvet Goldmine.”)

Kyle Chandler and Cate Blanchett in “Carol”

Below are highlights from the question and answer session:

Todd Haynes on what attracted him to the film:
I really was taking it on as if for the first time looking at the
love story, something that I felt I hadn’t really ever accomplished
directly in my other films. And that really began in reading “The Price
of Salt,” Patricia Highsmith’s beautiful novel and the gorgeous
adaptation of Phyllis’ script that first came to me with Cate attached.
So, it was quite a bundle of incentives when it first landed with me in
2013.

But unlike war, which is about conquering the object, love stories
are about conquering the subject. So, it’s always the subject who’s in a
state of vulnerability and peril at some level. And through much of
“Carol,” that is the character of Therese, who occupies a much less
powerful position in the world than Carol, is younger, is more open, is
sort of experiencing this woman with the freshness that is different
from Carol’s life and experience. But what I loved about the story was
how what happened to the two women really moves them through a series of
events which change them both.

Phyllis Nagy on keeping the film very much of its time period in the 1950’s:
That was one of the things that I was intent on doing – to not
overlay a contemporary psychology on any of the characters. When you
overlay any kind of a psychology and overview, an ethos, you’re judging
those characters immediately, and it seemed very important for all the
nuances of the relationships among the central quartet that you don’t do
that.

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara at the New York press conference for “Carol” | Getty Images Photo

Cate Blanchett on the character of Carol:
I think Carol’s a deeply private person whose sexuality in
relationship to herself is not unsettled or ambiguous, but she lives in a
quiet hell because she’s not able to fully express herself….

She has not been in a loveless marriage. I think that the complicated
thing for Carol – and being confronted by Therese at the time in her
life that it is – is that she’s got an enormous amount to lose. She’s
found a sort of an unhappy balance (if you can find an unhappy balance
with Kyle Chandler; it’s very difficult [laughter]) with Harge because
of her love for her daughter. So, she’s risking a lot.

There was a beautiful line that Phyllis wrote describing Therese as
being flung out of space. But I also think Carol’s describing that
situation of being in uncharted territory, free-floating, as you do when
you fall in love with anyone for the first time. You feel like you’ve
never been here before. You’re being confronted with questions,
confronted with sides of yourself.

Kyle Chandler and Cate Blanchett at the New York press conference for “Carol” | Getty Images Photo

Kyle Chandler on the character of Harge:
At some point, I realized that it could be a stereotypical character
very easily, and portray what you would imagine of a guy from the 50’s
under these circumstances….

The worst possible moment in a man’s life, or a woman, and they’re in
love is when they realize they’re not in love anymore. And this
character never realized he wasn’t in love anymore. He was always in
love, and he was intensely in love. And he also had this little child –
not just his wife, not just his child, but his family unit. So important
to him and so important, to say nothing of his social status.

Todd Haynes on the character of Harge:
The interesting thing about Kyle’s character, Harge, is that we are
introduced to Harge at an uncustomary period in his life as a character.
One presumes that Harge has always pretty much taken Carol for granted
most of their life. But when the film begins, he’s already reevaluated
her value in his life, and the way he’s inviting her out and wanting to
spend time with her and share time with her seems to be a new project, a
new regimen.

Sarah Paulson and Jake Lacy at the New York press conference for “Carol” | Getty Images Photo

Sarah Paulson on how she approached the character of Abby:
I really just tried to think about friendship and selflessness and
kind of unwavering loyalty because I think Abby still has feelings for
Carol. And I think it’s a challenging thing – I wonder what I personally
would do if somebody I loved and still had feelings for … if I was
called upon to come in and rescue the person that she currently loves. I
don’t know.

It was, to me, a testament to her [Abby’s] friendship and her love,
and I think the desire to be around Carol and Carol’s orbit no matter
what. I think Abby’s sense of society – I don’t mean literal society,
but her community, her friendships – they were probably quite narrow at
that time. So, to lose something like that would be … the consequences
of that would be too enormous.

Jake Lacy on the character of Richard:
I think Todd and I spoke when we first met about the idea for Richard
that the world is there to take. He’s young, he’s in New York, he’s
first generation American, he’s smart, he’s handsome, he has a job, he’s
got a girl – the world is his for the taking, and yet, it slips away
from him. And it’s sort of without knowing it, and thank God that it
does because he’s 15 or 10 years earlier than Carol and Harge….

I think for all these characters, I think for Richard in particular,
there’s a complete lack of vocabulary, a complete loss for how to
describe this or experience it. He’s searching for someone to put a
label on what this problem is, and even Therese is unable to define it
for him as she’s going through it. And that speaks to Richard, I think,
and to the time that they’re living in.

Todd Haynes and Phyllis Nagy at the New York press conference for “Carol” | Getty Images Photo

Phyllis Nagy knew Patricia Highsmith in the later years of
her life, so what follows is a short discussion about Highsmith’s
opinion of film versions of her novels:

Phyllis: She didn’t like many of the film adaptations of her work. She couldn’t stand them, especially “Strangers on a Train.”

Cate: Oh! What does she know?

Phyllis: From her perspective, the guys trade
murders in that book, and the film, of course they don’t. And it was one
of the first arguments we had when I said, “Oooh, I love ‘Strangers on a
Train.'” She said, “Hmmm… really?” with disgust!

But she liked aspects of the films. Robert Walker she loved… So, I
hope that she would find this entire enterprise extremely attractive. I
think she would. I think we are all of us not betraying the intent and
the tone of her work, which really, I think, is the only thing that you
can do – to be reverent to a source material.

Everything else is up for
grabs.

Cate Blanchett on wearing 1950’s girdles during filming:
There was a scene where Rooney was playing the piano, Therese was
playing the piano, and I found this position on the floor. And I
thought, “I have to be graceful,” and I rehearsed a lot so I could get
up in one movement in a girdle, which was difficult.

Melanie Votaw is a New York City-based freelance writer and the
author of 15 non-fiction books. She’s a former actress/singer/dancer who
started performing at age 4 and now loves to write about film, TV, and
theater. Visit her Web site, Rule the Word, and follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.